Chef crisis at boiling point

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Food for thought ... head chef Ed Halmagyi, who is happy to take on apprentices, believes training should be standardised.

Michael Cousley had hardly ever set foot in a kitchen when he
decided to become a chef's apprentice. Yet that did not stop 12 of
Sydney's top restaurants and cafes offering him a job.

Two years on, the 20-year-old from Beverly Hills who grew up
refusing to eat onions and mushrooms is cooking at Nove Cucina, a
trendy trattoria on the Finger Wharf at Woolloomooloo.

"There are always jobs for apprentice chefs," he said.

An ACTU analysis released yesterday shows chefs are among the
hardest hit by the national skills shortage, prompting an 86 per
cent rise in trade vacancies in the past four years.

There are now 7397 trades-related vacancies in NSW and almost
29,000 nationwide. Other workers in short supply include
construction and metal workers, woodworkers and electricians.

Mr Cousley's boss, Ed Halmagyi, is a passionate advocate of
apprenticeships - 10 of his 15 staff are trainees. The only
requirement is a willingness to listen. "I'll take on virtually
anybody," he said.

But he, like the rest of the restaurant industry, struggles to
find apprentices. Mr Halmagyi blames the industry's transience and
its "awful" image, a product of dodgy operators and books like
Kitchen Confidential that depict chefs as abusive and
rude.

Bad press, late nights and low wages were driving potential
chefs to other industries.

But Mr Halmagyi believes his industry needs to take a deeper
look at the problem. "You can't simply increase apprentice numbers.
Where are you going to get them from? Throwing money at them is not
the answer," he said.

"There should be conditions that relate to the quality,
standard, predictability and consistency of training that's
provided," he said.